Feed-water heater



UNITED STATES Arnr triers.

HENRY WARDEN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FEED-WATER HEATER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 358,514, dated March 1, 1887.

Application filed September 25, 1886. SerialNc. 214,499. (No model.)

To all whom. it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY WARDEN, of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Feed-\Vater Heaters, of which the following is a true and exact description, due reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part hereof.

My invent-ion relates to certain improvements in feedwater heaters, and has for its object to provide a feed-water heater in which a more thorough purification of the water may be effected than is practicable by the apparatus formerly in use.

It is well known that while many of the salts held in solution by water are precipitated at a comparatively low heat sulphate of lime, which exists in many waters, is not precipitated until the temperature reaches approximately 300 Fahrenheit, the precipitate being of course very light and fine, and as it is thrown down from the hottest or topmost layer of water it must be afforded ample space and time to settle, or else it will enter the exitpipe leading to the boiler. Having these principles in view, I have devised the feedwater heater hereinafter more fully described, and illustrated in the drawings, in which Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section on the line mm, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a longitudinalvertical section showing a modified construction.

A is the shell of a horizontal feed-water heater; B and 0, its heads, each head, as shown in Fig. 1, being divided by a bridge, b and 0, into two steam-chambers, one abovethe other.

From the upper chamber, D, of the head 0 to the upper chamber, F, of the head B steampipes L are led, while the lower chambers, E and G, are connected by a similar system of steam-pipes, M.

H is a steam-suppl y pipe, leading direct from the boilers into the chamber D.

I is a steam-supply pipe, leading from the exhaust of an engine into the lower chamber, E.

J and K are the exit-pipes, through which the high-pressure and exhaust steam, respectively, escape from the feed-water heater after passing through the pipes L and M. The exit pipe J of the high-pressure steam-pipes should lead into the same boiler from which the supply is drawn through pipe H, and is arranged V at the bottom of chamber F, so that any con- P is a blow-off pipe for getting rid of the I scum which collects on the top of the water in the heater. It is connected with a horizontal pipe, Q, lying parallel with the pipe 0 and having openings (1 along its length and on its upper side.

R is the pipe through which water is introduced into the heater. It is connected with a horizontal pipe, S, extending along the bottom of the heater and having openings 8 on its upper side.

T is a pipe through which any sediment collected in the bottom of the heater can beblown out from time to time. It is connected with the pipe U, which runs along the bottom of the heater parallel to the pipe S, and is provided with holes a onits under side.

The operation of my device is as follows: The pipes R and N being connected with the water-supply'and boilers and the heater A filled with water, exhaust-steam is turned on through the pipe I, passes into the chamber E, and through the pipes M to the chamber G, from which it escapes through the pipe K. At the same time steam from the boilers is turned on through the pipe H into the chamber D, from which it passes through the pipes L into the chamber F and escapes through pipe J. The water entering the heater at the top of the delivering-pipe S, there is below the orifices s a space where sediment can collect out of the current, and from time to time it can be blown out through the pipes U and T. Any scum or light impurities in the water will collect in the top of the heater above the orifices 0 of the pipe 0, and may be blown out at any time through the orifices q of the pipe Q. By this arrangement the current of water passing through the heater does not tend to stir up either the scum or sediment.

The orifices s and 0 in the water delivery.

and exit pipes should be of varying size, so graded that the water will issue and enter in substantially equal quantities at all points along the pipes S and 0, it being important that the current through the heater shall be as uniform and steady as possible at all points.

The current of water issuing from the pipe S first passes slowly among the pipes M, re ceiving such heat as the exhaust-steam is able to impart, and depositing by subsidence such impurities as are precipitated at a low heat. Then passing among the pipes L, the alreadyheated water receives a large accession of heat from the high-pressure steam and precipitates the sulphateof lime held in solution, the high heat also acting to increase the precipitation of other impurities and being of course desirable in itself.

Although the sulphate of lime is precipitated in the upper part of the heater, the water-layer in which it takes place is so broad, owing to my use of the horizontal type of heater and the current of water so even and gradual, that there is little or no danger of its getting into the delivery-pipes O and N.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a modified construction of my improved feed-water heater, in which, instead of a number of horizontal highpressure pipes leading into chambers D and F, a single bent pipe is inserted in the upper part of the heater, said pipe curving gradually downward from the entrance-point to its place of exit. When this device is used, the upper steam-chambers may be dispensed with:

The arrangement of the water-pipesR Sand N O and of the sediment and scum pipes T U and P Q in connection with a feed-water heater I do not intend to claim in this application, as the same forms the subject of an application already filed by me in the Patent Office. V

I am aware that it has been proposed to provide a vertical feed-water heater with systems of high and low pressure steam -pipes situated one above the other; but in this construction it is necessary to provide a filter or a special settlingchamber in order to free the water from the salts precipitated at the higher temperature. By my construction I provide that the highly-heated layers of water shall be so large in area and shall have so slight and gradual an ascending motion that the precipitated salts will separate themselves from the water by gravity only and in the heater itself, thus avoiding the use of a filter or of a special settling-chamber.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A horizontal feed-water heater provided with two independent systems of steam-pipes, situated one above the other and adapted to receive their steam from different sources of supply, whereby the impurities precipitated at the higher temperatures are thrown down in a broad shallow layer of the water having but little ascending motion or current, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A horizontal feed-water heater having a system of high'pressure steam-pipesin its upper part and arranged so that any water condensed therein will flow out by gravity, and a system of low-pressure steam-pipes situated below the high-pressure pipes, whereby the impurities precipitated at the higher temperatures are thrown down in a broad shallow layer of the water having but little ascending motion or current, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. The combination of a horizontal feed-water heater having a system of high-pressure steam-pipes in its upper part and a system of low-pressure steam-pipes below the same with a horizontal supply-pipe at the bottom and a horizontal delivery-pipe at the top, said supply and delivery pipes extending substantially from end to end of the heater and having perforations distributed along their length, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. The combination of the horizontal feedwater heater having a system of high-pressure steam-pipes in its upper part and a system of low pressure steam pipes below the same with the horizontal supply-pipe S, having openings in its upper side, the horizontal sediment-pipe U, having openings in its lower side, the horizontal delivery-pipe 0, having openings in its lower side, and the horizontal scum-pipe Q, having openings in its upper side, all arranged substantially as and for the purpose specified.

5. A horizontal feed-water heater having heads divided by a partition into steam-chambers, one above the other, and eachchamber having an independent external steam-connection, a system of pipes connecting the upper chambers of each head, and a system-0t pipes connecting the lower chambers of each head, all substantially as and for the purpose specified.

6. In combination with a horizontal feedwater heater, heads B and 0, each divided into upper and lower steam-chambers, a pipe system, L, connecting the upper chambers, a pipe system, M, connecting the lower chambers, a pipe, H, leading from the boiler, a pipe, 1, leading from the exhaust of an engine, exitpipes J and K, a water-supp1y pipe, S, extend ing substantially the whole length of the heater,

and a similar delivery-pipe, 0, all substam tially as and for the purpose specified.

7. The combination of the horizontal feedwater heater having heads B and 0, divided HENRY WARDEN. 

